Field of Invention
The present invention relates generally to renewable electrical energy sources, and more particularly to apparatus and methods for generating electricity from the earth's magnetic field and rotation.
Background Art
The concepts of electromagnetic induction, Faraday's law, Faraday's disk, and the Lorentz force on charges are all well-known. These concepts have been applied to the earth, which is modeled as a large conductive sphere rotating through its own magnetic field (“geomagnetic field”). In this regard, the earth has been compared to a Faraday disk or homopolar generator. See, for example: W. M. Elsasser, The Earth as a Dynamo, Scientific American, Inc., Vol. 198, Issue 5, May 1, 1958, p. 44, 45; and C. R. Carrigan and D. Gubbins, The Source of the Earth's Magnetic Field, Scientific American, Inc., Vol. 240, Issue 2, Feb. 1, 1979, p. 118, 199-20. In making this comparison, the assumption has been carried over that the electricity to be obtained from the earth is from electromagnetic induction. Laboring under this assumption, it has been asserted that electricity from the geomagnetic field is not practicably retrievable, because the electricity gathering circuit would have to be stationary relative to the rotating earth (i.e., have a stationary frame of reference). This assertion is apparently based on a theory that the currents induced in the Faraday disk (or earth) and in the circuit employed to retrieve the electricity, would cancel each other out if both were moving through the magnetic field. Another theory is that a static electric field is created in the Faraday disk (or earth) that neutralizes the induced electric field, resulting in a zero voltage reading in the rotational frame of reference.
Further to this point, U.S. Patent App. Pub. No. 2004/0027022 (Feb. 12, 2004) to Weir, states that no voltage is generated by a Faraday type homopolar dynamo in the rotational reference frame of the dynamo (Weir, Par. [0010]). Weir even attempted to measure such voltage by mounting a voltmeter onto the rotating disk and connecting one probe to a shaft rotating the disk and the other probe to the rim of the disk. Weir states that the voltmeter read zero volts when the disk was rotating. (Weir Par. [0011].) No details are given regarding the sensitivity of the voltmeter or the test setup. In a book by Thomas Valone, Ph.D, P.E., entitled The Homopolar Handbook, published by Integrity Research Institute, Washington, D.C., 3rd Edition, October 2001 (“Valone I”), it is stated that an electrostatic field (created in response to the Lorentz force) neutralizes the electric field induced on the Faraday disk (“effective electric field”), and thus no voltage can be detected with a meter that rotates with the disk (Valone I, p. 7 & FIG. 8). Valone discusses his voltage measurement on page 24 and again at page 63. He indicates that his voltmeter was set to indicate a voltage reading only if the voltage was greater than 15 millivolts. Thus, the sensitivity of Valone's experiment may have been limited to 15 millivolts, presumably because the induced electric field (obtained in the stationary reference frame) was expected to be 100 millivolts (see Valone I, p. 63).
Valone reminds us that Michael Faraday, in 1831, compared his Faraday disk to the earth and the earth's rotation through its magnetic field. Valone states that Faraday, thinking that an induced voltage could be measured on his rotating disk, attempted to measure a like voltage in the earth (i.e., in rivers and streams) and apparently was unsuccessful. (Valone I, p. 61.) Valone characterizes Faraday's thinking as a mistake. Valone presumably mentions Faraday's unsuccessful attempt at measuring voltage in the earth as support for his position that a voltage cannot be measured in the rotating reference frame. In an earlier paper, entitled “The Homopolar Generator: Tesla's Contribution,” Proceedings of the International Tesla Symposium, January 1986 (“Valone II”), Valone specifically stated that “we can't draw power from the earth's Homopolar generator while rotating with it.” (Valone II, p. 273.)
Notwithstanding the view that a voltage is unobtainable in the rotating frame of reference in a Faraday system, proposals were made in the 1980s for a space shuttle to drag a tether (an insulated conductor) through space across the geomagnetic field to generate electric power onboard the shuttle. Current and a voltage potential difference would be induced on the tether's conductor as it passed through the magnetic field lines of the earth. The current return path (or ground path) would be the charged plasma medium of the ionosphere, which would exist between the outer wall of the space shuttle and the distal end of the tether (or an outer wall of a satellite attached to the distal end). A load (e.g., electronic equipment) inside the space shuttle would be connected between the proximal end of the tether and the outer wall of the shuttle (i.e., the return or ground path). A tether experiment was actually performed on a space shuttle mission in 1996, according to a NASA article (www.istp.gsfc.nasa.gov/Education/wtether.html). The voltage generated on the tether was 3500 volts, apparently measured in the rotational frame of reference. It is suggested that the voltage may have been measured at the distal end of the tether with instruments aboard a satellite connected to the distal end. The voltage level at the load inside the shuttle is not mentioned. In this experiment, the voltage applied to the intended load (equipment aboard the shuttle) was supplied by the tether's conductor and the return or ground path for the load was, according to NASA, the ionospheric plasma between the shuttle and the satellite.
An alternative design to the above-mentioned space tether was purportedly developed by or for the U.S. Army in 1988 and patented in U.S. Pat. No. 4,923,151 (1990) to Roberts. Roberts discloses a coaxial tether (Roberts, FIGS. 2 and 3) about 12.5 miles long, comprising an outer conductor 20, a magnetic shield conductor 26, and a center conductor 30. Outer conductor 20 is electrically connected at one end to a satellite 12 and at the other end to an orbiting shuttle 10 (Roberts, FIGS. 1 and 2). Center conductor 30 is magnetically shielded from the geomagnetic field by conductor 26, which is made of a high permeability metal such as soft iron. Center conductor 30 is electrically insulated from conductors 20 and 26 by insulation 28. Center conductor 30 is also electrically connected at one end to satellite 12 (at point 32) and at the other end to a load 36 inside shuttle 10 (through a switch 34). Load 36 is grounded via a return current path including the outer surface 40 of shuttle 10, conductor 20, and the outer surface 22 of satellite 12. The tether passes through the geomagnetic field at an orientation substantially normal to the earth and its magnetic field lines. As a result, a potential difference (“PD”) is produced between shuttle 10 and satellite 12. Conductor 26 magnetically shields center conductor 30, so no induced current flows in conductor 30. Conductor 30 assumes the charge potential of satellite 12 and applies the potential difference PD across load 36 (once switch 34 is closed), causing current to flow in load 36. Conductor 20 replaces the ionosphere as the return current path, purportedly making the circuit more stable. Thus, conductor 20 functions both as a Faraday conductor (i.e., a conductor on which currents are induced from a magnetic field) and as the return current path. In this case, the Faraday conductor (conductor 20) does not function as the supply current path (conductor 30 does). In the previously discussed space tether design, the Faraday conductor (i.e., the tether's only conductor) did serve as the supply current path and did not serve as the return current path (the ionosphere).
For over 40 years, the inventor named herein has been working on an idea for generating electricity from the earth's rotation and magnetic field. The argument that electricity is generated in the earth is supported by some natural phenomena, including: the decreasing speed of the earth's rotation, the continued molten state of the earth's interior, volcanic and geyser activity, the earth's magnetic field, and lightning. The earth uses its primary kinetic energy, which originally started its rotation, to electrically charge itself by electromagnetic induction. Electric energy flowing toward the center of the earth is transformed into magnetic and heat energy, sustaining the earth's magnetic field and the molten state of the earth's interior. The balance in pressure between the surface and the molten interior is maintained through the loss of heat energy at the surface by heat radiation and volcanic and geyser activity. As a result of the work performed by the earth, and possibly because of a counter electromagnetic force (Lenz's law), the earth's kinetic energy is decreasing and its rotation is slowing.
The inventor herein began thinking about his idea while observing thunderstorms. In 1979, during one of his experiments, he was struck by a branch of lightning and luckily survived with no significant injury. He decided to continue experimentation, but in a safe manner. Upon arrival to the United States, the inventor herein applied for a grant and technical support from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) on May 18, 1995. His application was assigned an Evaluation Request (ER) Number 32042 and a Control Number 015351. The application was ultimately rejected with an explanation that the magnetic field rotates with the earth and thus currents could not be induced in a conductor installed on the earth. NIST's rejection of the idea dissuaded the inventor herein from pursuing the idea further, until recently when the inventor started thinking about the Faraday disk and “Faraday's paradox.”
Faraday's paradox is the non-intuitive result that electric currents are induced in the Faraday disk even when the magnet rotates with the disk. It is non-intuitive because many would assume that the magnetic field rotates with the rotating magnet and disk, in which case currents would not be induced in the disk. Faraday conducted three tests to investigate this phenomenon. First, he rotated the disk and kept the magnet stationary and observed a current induced in the disk. Second, he kept the disk stationary and rotated the magnet and observed no induced current in the disk. Third, he rotated the disk and magnet together and observed a current in the disk. From these tests, Faraday concluded that the magnetic field remained stationary when the magnet was rotated around its own magnetic axis. Similarly, the earth (representing a rotating disk and magnet) should produced a stationary magnetic field through which the earth rotates, thus inducing generally radial electric currents in the earth and on conductors substantially aligned with the earth's radius. Since Faraday, there has been a long-standing debate and experimentation about Faraday's paradox and whether or not the magnetic field rotates with the magnet. For example, see Valone I, pp. 2-4 and 37. Notwithstanding the theoretical debate and investigation, it is believed that Faraday was correct and that currents are induced by the geomagnetic field in the earth, in the surrounding atmosphere, and in conductors appropriately located on the earth and in the atmosphere.
Nikola Tesla disclosed a conductor extending into the atmosphere and normal to the earth's surface in U.S. Pat. No. 685,957 (Tesla). Rather than seek to induce currents in the conductor from the geomagnetic field, Tesla sought to collect radiant energy (or particles charged by radiant energy) primarily from the sun. Tesla somehow suspended a conductive plate P and connected it to the distal end of the conductor (Tesla, FIG. 1). The proximal end of the conductor was connected to a capacitor C. The other end of capacitor C was connected to a secondary conductor, which is, in turn, connected to a conductive plate P′ grounded in the earth. Plate P was the collector of radiant energy charged particles. The charge from plate P charged capacitor C. A voltage threshold device (d) and a load R are connected across capacitor C to form a circuit. Device (d) closes the circuit when the charge on capacitor C exceeds a predetermined voltage, causing the voltage to be applied to load R. In this patent, Tesla does not seek to obtain the potential difference between two “terrestrial charged bodies” (hereinafter defined).
Herein, the term “terrestrial” is used in a broad sense, to include the whole or any part of the earth and its surrounding atmosphere, including but not limited to: the earth's inner and outer cores, mantle, crust, any layer or level thereof, and its surface; all bodies of water; air; clouds; ice; vegetation; minerals and other resources such as oil; rocks including basalt; or any other composition or thing of the earth and its atmosphere. As used herein, the term “terrestrial charged body” (or its plural form) means a terrestrial body, region, layer, zone, other volume or area, any composition or thing, with or without specifically defined or fixed boundaries, having an electric charge represented by a voltage potential.